University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Denver
Cajuns Cruise to Seventh-Straight Victory, Improve to 8-1 in Sun Belt
2/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Saturday, Feb. 7, 2004
UL Lafayette improves to 13-5 overall and 8-1 in the Sun Belt. Denver drops to 13-8 overall and 5-4 in conference.
Both teams opened the contest in a back and forth fashion. Brian Hamilton started the scoring for the Cajuns with two foul shots from the line after call on Zeljiko Zupic.
Louisiana-Lafayette didn't help their cause offensively during the better part of the first half shooting only 5 for 14 from the floor.
Laurie Bridges was fouled at the 10:07 mark of the first stanza before draining a lay-up. Bridges landed the free throw to make it a three-point play and pull the Cajuns to within two 17-15. Bridges' shooting accounted for 10 of Louisiana-Lafayette's 25 points with five minutes to play in the half.
Brad Boyd drained a three pointer at the 4:23 mark which sparked a 7-2 spurt giving the home team the 33-29 advantage with 3:30 left to play.
Boyd landed back-to-back three pointers and fed Brian Hamilton on a slam-dunk in the lane to increase the Cajuns' lead to nine points.
Pioneers guard Erik Benzel answered with back-to-back three pointers of his own; but it wasn't enough to catch the Cajuns who caught fire late. A Cedric Williams lay-in followed by another jam from Hamilton along with two foul shots gave UL Lafayette a 47-35 lead going into the locker room.
The Cajuns finished the half shooting 56 percent from the floor and an impressive 86 percent from the charity stripe. Denver closed out the first half shooting only 48 percent from the floor and 44 percent from the line.
Boyd showed no signs of slowing early in the second half as he nailed another pair of threes 36 seconds apart giving the home team an 18 point lead after one minute of play.
Boyd's hot hand woke up the Pios' old nemesis Antoine Landry. Landry went on an 11-point tear starting at the 17:54 mark. Antoine's outburst began with a 2-point jumper and culminated with a trio of treys with 14:40 left to play.
Orien Greene, Dwayne Mitchell and Cedric Williams got into the act draining buckets, slamming down shots and pulling down boards with ten minutes in the contest bringing the score to 75-58.
Louisiana-Lafayette continued to play well driving the game home and preserving at least a 20-point advantage for the last six minutes of the game while taking the win 94-74.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
